BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF LAKE, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

ORDINANCE NO. 2980

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER THREE OF THE LAKE

COUNTY CODE CONCERNING THE COMMERCIAL WEIGHING AND MEASURING DEVICE PROGRAM AND THE ANNUAL REGISTRATION FEES FOR INSPECTION AND TESTING OF WEIGHING AND MEASURING DEVICES

THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF LAKE ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:

            Section 1:        Section 3-53 of Chapter Three of the Lake County Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

            “Sec. 3-53. - Device Registration.

            53.1 No person shall use any weighing or measuring device for commercial purposes in Lake County without first registering the device with the County Sealer. The registration shall be in addition to any other certificate license or permit which may be required by the County of Lake or any other governmental activity.

            53.2 Annual Fee: An annual registration fee shall be charged for the calendar year (January 1 through December 31), or any part thereof, for all commercial weighing or measuring devices. For purposes of this section, the annual registration fee for a business that uses a commercial weighing or measuring device or devices shall consist of a business location fee, a Department of Food and Agriculture administrative fee, as specified in Business and Professions Code Section 12241, and a device fee, as specified in subsections (a) through (c) below. Pursuant to the California Business and Professions Code, Section 12240, the annual registration fees are established as follows:

            (a)        Beginning December 1, 2012 and thereafter, eighty dollars ($80.00) per business location, plus applicable device fee listed in subsections (e)(1) to (e)(9) below.

            (b)        For marinas, mobilehome parks, recreational vehicle parks and apartment complexes, where the owner of the marina, park, or complex owns and is responsible for the water submeters, electric submeters, and/or vapor submeters, the device fee shall be two dollars ($2.00) per device per space or apartment.

            (c)        (1)        For weighing devices, other than livestock, with capacities of ten thousand  (10,000) pounds or greater, the device fee shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per device; for weighing devices, other than livestock scales, with capacities of at least two thousand (2,000) pounds but less than ten thousand (10,000) pounds, the device fee shall be one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) per device.

                        (2)        For livestock scales with capacities of ten thousand (10,000) pounds or greater,  the device fee shall be one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) per device; for livestock scales with capacities of at least two thousand(2,000) pounds but less than ten thousand (10,000) pounds, the device fee shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) per device.

                         (3)    For liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) meters, truck mounted or stationary, the device fee shall be one hundred seventy-five ($175.00) per device.

                         (4)    For wholesale and vehicle meters, the device fee shall be twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per device.

                         (5)    For computing scales, the device fee shall be twenty dollars ($20) per device.  For purposes of this subsection, a computing scale shall be a weighing device with a capacity of less than 100 pounds that indicates the money value of any commodity weighed, at predetermined unit prices, throughout all or part of the weighing range of the scale.  For the purposes of this subsection, the portion of the annual registration fee consisting of the business location fee and the device fees authorized by this subsection shall not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each business location.

                         (6)    For jewelry scales, the device fee shall be twenty dollars ($20) per device.  For purposes of this subsection, a jewelry scale shall be a scale that meets the specifications, tolerances, and sensitivity requirements established or adopted by the secretary applicable to those devices in accordance with Business and Professions Code Section 12107.

                         (7)    For weighing devices, other than computing and jewelry scales as defined in subsections (5) and (6), with capacities of at least 100 pounds but less than 2,000 pounds the device fee shall be twenty dollars ($20) per device.

                         (8)    A scale or device used in a certified farmer’s market, as defined by Section 113742 of the Health and Safety Code is not required to be registered in the county where the market is conducted.                                                 (9)        For commercial weighing or measuring devices not listed in subsections (1) to (8) above, the device fee shall be twenty dollars ($20.00) per device. For the purposes of this section, the total annual registration fee shall not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), for each business location.

           53.3 Billing. The County Sealer shall on or before February 1 of each year send a billing statement to each owner of a commercial weighing and measuring device requesting payment of the applicable fee set forth in subsection 53.2 above.

            53.4 Transfer. A device registration is transferable from one person to another, and is valid only for the specific devices and, if the devices are to be used at a fixed location for the specific location for which it is issued. Replacement of specific devices shall be allowed without a new registration fee being required.

            53.5 Delinquency. Any person failing to renew a device registration on or before March 15 of each year shall be required to pay an additional sum equal to fifty (50) percent of the registration fee as a penalty for each year of delinquency.

            53.6 The County Sealer may recover costs for testing devices found out of tolerance after the initial test and first re-test pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 12210.5.“

            Section 2:     All ordinances or parts of ordinances, or resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict and no further.

            Section 3:        This ordinance shall take effect on December 27, 2012 and before the expiration of fifteen days after its passage it shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the County of Lake

            The foregoing ordinance was introduced before the Board of Supervisors on the 13th day of November, 2012 and passed by the following vote on the 27th day of November, 2012.

            AYES: Supervisors Comstock, Rushing, Farrington and Brown

            NOES: None

ABSENT OR NOT VOTING: Supervisor Smith Absent